The properties (for example, chemical, physical, electrical, optical, and magnetic properties) of materials depend, in part, on their atomic structure, microstructure, and grain boundaries or interfaces. Materials structured in the nanoscale range (that is, in the 0.1 to 100 nm range) have therefore been attracting interest because of their unique properties as compared to conventional materials. As a result, there has been increasing research effort to develop nanostructured materials for a variety of technological applications such as, for example, electronic and optical devices, labeling of biological material, magnetic recording media, and quantum computing.
Numerous approaches have been developed for synthesizing/fabricating nanostructured materials. Approaches include, for example, using milling or shock deformation to mechanically deform solid precursors such as, for example, metal oxides or carbonates to produce a nanostructured powder (see, for example, Pardavi-Horvath et al., IEEE Trans. Magn., 28, 3186 (1992)), and using sol-gel processes to prepare nanostructured metal oxide or ceramic oxide powders and films (see, for example, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,682 (Kurihara et al.), and Brinker et al., J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 147-148; 424-436 (1992)).